This summer the Tour de France riders start their 3,656 KM journey in the Yorkshire city of Leeds and complete three whole stages on British...

Friday, 21 November 2014

Mustached Dutch man shows us the future of handheld devices

Those who have seen Black Mirror will know that it's great. Those who haven't seen Black Mirror should think on their sins.

In one memorable episode the future peoples all have a 'grain' implanted behind their ear, which records everything they do: every unsuccessful job interview, dinner party and marital infidelity. The purpose is to allow all memories and past actions to be reviewed and agonized over.

It's one of the more freaky alternate realities in the show, and it looks as though current technology may be catching up.

A Dutch man has taken the decision to implant a near-field communication (NFC) chip into his hand. This will allow him to access his Bitcoin wallet without actually having to reach for his wallet.

Martijn Wismeijer, founder of mrbitco.in, pulled the stunt in order to highlight the value of cryptocurrencies, but also hopes to make implanting more socially acceptable. His vision seems to be that one day the human body itself will become part of the internet of things i.e. opening doors with the palm of our hands and flicking on devices with the wave of a wrist.

In the video the operation does seem relatively quick and painless... and the heavy handlebar mustache convinces me that this is a guy who knows what he's about... Hmm.. nope, I really can't see anything wrong with this one!

It seems the future really is in the palm of our hand (sorry... sorry about that).